Thursday, July 21, 2016

I remember it so vividly, February 5, 1988 I'm 8 years old my cousins are over and we are all in my brothers room watching The Main Event on NBC and I'm positive that Hulk Hogan is going to vanquish Andre the Giant and again retain the WWF World Heavyweight Championship!

But then the unthinkable happens he loses. But his shoulder was up!! According to Jesse Ventura the evil Ted DiBiase paid someone to have plastic surgery to look the referee to cheat Hogan out of his championship! I was literally devastated and the rest of my evening was ruined.

Shortly after "winning" the championship Andre surrendered it to villainous Ted DiBiase making him an unworthy champion. This travesty of justice was rectified when on February 13th on Superstars of Wrestling President Jack Tunney declared the championship vacant. As we all know a tournament was held at WrestleMania IV "Macho Man" Randy Savage defeated DiBiase in the finals to win his first championship.

In the official history of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship on WWE.com Andre won the title on February 5th and was champion for 59 minutes. WWE doesn't officially recognize DiBiase as champion however for at least four shows DiBiase was recognized as champion and came to the ring with the championship belt.

Hulk Hogan & Bam Bam Bigelow (w/ Sir Oliver Humperdink) defeated Ted Dibiase (w/ Virgil) & Andre the Giant at 7:59 when Hogan pinned Dibiase with the leg drop after Andre's arm became entangled in the ring ropes; prior to the bout, Dibiase came to the ring wearing the WWF World Title belt and was introduced as the new champion as a result of what occured the previous night in Indianapolis

Philadelphia, PA - Spectrum - February 6, 1988 (13,112)Televised on the PRISM Network - featured Dick Graham & Lord Alfred Hayes on commentary; Hulk Hogan & Bam Bam Bigelow (w/ Sir Oliver Humperdink) defeated Andre the Giant & Ted Dibiase (w/ Virgil) at 9:56 when Hogan pinned Dibiase with the legdrop after Andre became tied in the ring ropes; prior to the bout, Dibiase came to the ring in possession of the world title belt and was announced as the champion

Los Angeles, CA - Sports Arena - February 8, 1988 (3,000)
Ted Dibiase pinned Bam Bam Bigelow after Virgil hit Bigelow with the world title belt; Dibiase was billed as the WWF World Champion and the match was recognized as a title match (Bigelow's 3rd career pinfall loss)

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Saturday, July 9, 2016

It's a very rare occasion when a WWE Championship is defended on a non-promoted WWE event. It has happened but only rarely. For clarifications purposes I am talking about the modern era, essentially from WrestleMania forward. Prior to that Champions like Bob Backlund and Bruno Sammartino would defend their championships on non-WWE promoted cards.

November 20, 1994 All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling hosted a supercard entitled Big Egg Wrestling Universe held inside the history Tokyo Dome with a disputed attendance between 32,000 - 42,000 fans. Either way it's an impressive number for an all girl show featuring 1 male match.

The show consisted of 23 matches featuring multiple promotions including the WWE, and a 8 woman Five Star Tournament. This was a truly magnificent show and I would recommend you pick up a copy for yourself. You can find it at IVP video.

In the second to last match on the card WWF Women's Champion: Alundra Blayze defended at top contender Bull Nakano who at the 9:27 mark pinned Blayze after landing a top rope leg drop to win the Championship.

Bull Nakano would go on to hold the title until April 3, 1995 losing to title back to Blayze at Monday Night Raw the night after WrestleMania XI. Bull Nakano herself would defend the championship at a non-WWE promoted event, AJW's Queendom 1995 defeating Kyoko Inoue.

On November 17, 1998 Duane Gill later Gillberg defeated Christian on Raw in Columbus, Ohio to win the WWE Light-Heavyweight and he would hold that title for a record 453 days before dropping the belt to Essa Rios on February 13, 2000 in Austin, TX on Sunday Night Heat.

Essentially used as enhancement talent Duane Gill was brought in for an easy victory for Mankind at the 1998 Survivor Series. After that he joined the JOB Squad and with their help won the Championship and was basically never on TV again wrestling a couple dozen matches on WWE TV until the dropped the title.

I cannot find any other instances. I know someone might want to saw Bret Hart did, but he didn't. True he was the WWE Champion when he was wrestled Terry Funk at WrestleFest on September 11, 1997 in Amarillo, Texas however he was never billed as WWE Champion nor brought the belt to the ring.

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Sunday, July 3, 2016

This year at WrestleMania XXXII in Dallas, Texas Zack Ryder won the 7 Man Ladder Match to become the Intercontinental Champion. The next night he lost it on Raw to the Miz making him a one day champion. However I don't think the length of his Championship reign diminishes the fact that he won the title in a hard fought contest and he can always claim that he is a former Intercontinental Champion.

So that got me thinking how many other one day champions have there been? Continue reading and you'll find the answer. I'm going to list the match in which they won the championship and then explain how they lost it.

As with my blog about House Show Title Changes I'm going to start with active championships and then inactive ones. Also I am only going to list officially recognized title changes.

Also the Hardcore Championship is not going to be listed, but for those wondering there were 169 title reigns that last one day or less. Incidentally Shawn Stasiak is a fifteen time Hardcore Champion whose combined reigns is less than one day.

I did not include TNA Championships because too many of them were recorded on the same evening for tape delayed airing weeks or months later.WWE World Heavyweight Championship

February 5, 1998 Indianapolis, IN The Main Event
Andre The Giant pinned Hulk Hogan

This was the famous twin referee angle where the evil Hebner counted Hogan out even though his shoulder was clearly off the mat. After winning the title Andre surrendered it to the "Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase ending his title reign at under 10 minutes.

December 3, 1991 San Antonio, TX This Tuesday in Texas
Hulk Hogan pinned The Undertaker

This match took place six days after their match at the Survivor Series which saw Undertaker defeated Hogan for the title in controversial fashion. President Jack Tunney was sitting at ringside for the rematch and witnessed Hogan use ashes from the Undertakers urn to win the bought. Hogan was stripped of the title the next day earning him a one day reign.

Hulk Hogan came out to check on Hart and Fuji immediately challenged Hogan on behalf of Yokozuna. With Hart's blessing Hogan accepted the challenge and 22 seconds after the bell was rung and some miss-thrown salt Hogan pinned Yokozuna for his 5th title win.

February 16, 1997 Chattanooga, TN In Your House 13: Final Four
Bret "Hitman" Hart defeated "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, The Undertaker, & Vader in a four way over the top rope elimination match

The next night on Raw Hart was defending the championship against Sid when Austin interfered hitting Hart with a steel chair costing him the match and ending his title reign at one day.

June 28, 1998 Pittsburgh, PA King of the Ring
Kane defeated "Stone Cold" Steve Austin in a first blood match

The next night on Raw Austin goaded Kane into a rematch reclaiming the championship and to date Kane's only reign with the championship.

So this one is a bit confusing. John Cena had been the champion for over a year when he tore his pectoral muscle. At the beginning of the PPV Mr. McMahon awarded Randy Orton the championship but then ordered him to defend it in the opening contest against Triple H who defeated Orton for belt. Three matches later Triple H then successfully defended that Championship against Umaga. Than later that night Triple H was forced to defend the title against Randy Orton in a Last Man Standing match which Orton won ending Triple H's sixth reign as champion with Orton becoming a two time champion in the same event.

Moments after winning Vince McMahon ordered John Cena to defend the title against Batista who ended Cena's reign with an official time of the fall being 32 seconds.

July 25, 2011 Hampton, VA Raw
Rey Mysterio Jr. defeated The Miz in a tournament final for the vacant championship

CM Punk had defeated John Cena at Money in the Bank for the title the same night his contract expired. A tournament was held over two episodes of Raw with Mysterio winning the championship. Mysterio then accepted the challenge of John Cena and lost the title that same night to Cena.

The next night on Raw Triple H stripped Bryan of the championship stating that referee Scott Armstrong has made a fast three count and Bryan was in on it. Daniel Bryan is the only person to have two single day or less WWE World Heavyweight Championship reigns.

November 22, 2015 Atlanta, GA Survivor Series
Roman Reigns defeated Dean Ambrose in a tournament final for the vacant championship

Seconds after winning Sheamus brogued kicked Reigns then cashed in his Money in the Bank contact winning the title.

Co-General Manager Vickie Guerrero had banned the spear and stripped Edge of the championship for using it, awarding the title to her boyfriend Ziggler. Co-General Manager Teddy Long granted Edge a title match that night who won the championship for the 7th time.

Moments later Daniel Bryan cashed in his Money in the Bank contractWWE World Tag Team Championships June 3, 1971 - August 16, 2010
August 9, 1980 New York, NY Showdown at Shea
Bob Backlund & Pedro Morales defeated the Wild Samoans: Afa & Sika in a two out of three falls match two falls to none.

The next day Backlund & Morales were stripped of the titles because Backlund was the current WWF World Heavyweight Champion and by-laws at that time prevented a wrestler from holding more than one title at a time.

Edge & Christian were dressed as Los Conquistadores, the next night on Raw E & C challenged Los Conquistadores to a match, which they lost as now the Hardy's were in the costumes so technically Edge & Christian won and then lost the belts to the Hardy Boyz.

The next night on Raw Jarrett awarded the title to Mark Henry for helping him defeat D'Lo Brown at SummerSlam.

April 2,2000 Anaheim, CA WrestleMania 2000
Chris Jericho defeated Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit in a two fall triple threat match where the second fall was for the European Championship. The first fall had been for the Intercontinental Championship. Jericho pinned Benoit.

The next night on Raw Eddie Guerrero defeated Jericho for the championship.

Lenny Lane had been the champion since 8/19/1999 but was stripped of the title by Turner Broadcasting due to publicity backlash over Lane's homosexual character gimmick. Psychosis lost the title to Disco Inferno the same night.

March 30, 2000 Baltimore, MD house show
Billy Kidman defeated The Artist

The next night The Artist regained the title at a house show in Pittsburgh, PA.WCW World Heavyweight Championship January 11, 1991 - December 9, 2001

Flair had one the title on May 15th the suffered what was thought to be a severe medical condition so he was stripped of the title on May 22nd. When it was discovered that Flair medical cleared the have Nash give Flair the belt back. Later that same night on the 29th Jeff Jarrett defeated Flair.WCW World Tag Team Championship January 29, 1975 - November 18, 2001
September 17, 1995 Asheville, NC Fall Brawl
Harlem Heat: Booker T & Stevie Ray defeated Dick Slater and Bunkhouse Buck

The next night on Nitro The American Males: Marcus Bagwell & Scotty Riggs upset Harlem Heat for the titles.

Contributors

Michael J. Labbe

Husband, father of three, and lover of all things professional wrestling Michael is the founder of The Wrestling Insomniac and posts unique articles about wrestling, live event reports, and regular columns The Last Match and Signed Trading Cards.

superstarreview@gmail.com

Brandon Myers

Brandon, a wrestling fan of over thirty years, enjoys all wrestling but spends most of his time watching classic Memphis and WCW matches. Brandon contributes live event reports, documentary/DVD reviews, and other assorted wrestling posts.

LuchaKoopa@gmail.com

Roy Kenny

Roy 's column Roy's Reviews focuses on reports from events he has attended and wrestling DVD's.